Sometimes island,
sometimes peninsula depending on the level of the oceans, the island of Yeu
becomes a permanent island around 5000 BC. It now measures 10 km long over 4
km large, a surface of 23 km².
Small
human groups came on the island when it was still attached to the mainland.
The island offers an exceptional density of traces (engravings) and megalithic
monuments (menhirs, dolmens…). These prove human presence during the Neolithic
era (- 5300 in Vendee - 3000 BC).
The island was more a place of worship than a place to live.
There
are not many traces of the roman age : it is thought that due to its outline,
the coast was used for the respite of Mediterranean fleets. The finding of medals
belonging to the roman emperors Trajan and Adrien (1st and 2nd century) on the
south coast comforts this idea.
During the 10th century, Marmoutier monks (near
Tour) and St Cyprien monks from Poitiers re-built a new monastery named
St Etienne off the tops of Ker Chalon. They also helped at the
construction of St Sauveur’s Church.
During the
19th century, under the Second Empire, a military fort fit for a garrison
of 400 men was built on a hill looking over Port-Joinville. It was supposed
to be used for coastal defense but it was more used as a state prison. Its most
famous prisoner was the Maréchal Pétain.
During the 16th century, St Etienne Monastery is a Seigneury then a Marquisate. The island belongs to great Lords who create a system of defense in order to protect the islanders from numerous foreign intrusions (Spanish, Dutch, English). Mentioned for the first time in 1356, a castle is built on a rocky islet south of the island, separated by a large ditch which still exists.
There was considerable smuggling on the island due to exemption
on royal taxes or on tobacco taxes. Therefore, in 1785, the king of France
Louis XVI buys the island to the Lords.
During the Revolution, the islanders do not participate to the vendeen revolt.
You
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It is said that at the beginning of the 4th century, St-Martin de Vertou and St Hilaire evangelized the island. Then St Colomban monks, from the Irish abbey of Bangor, could have built the 1st monastery dedicated to St Hilaire. It unfortunately was destroyed during the 9th century by the Norsemen.
